The recently held ‘Vertikal Days’ crane exhibition at Haydock Park Newton-Le-Willows Merseyside saw Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd sponsor a 2 day charity event. This event, called ‘My Future My Choice’, hosted a group of 9-10 years olds from Allanson Street Primary School, St Helens and a number of 12-14 year olds from Maghull High School in Liverpool.
My Future My Choice aims at promoting engineering to young people between the ages of 9 and 16. By bringing schools and businesses together to focus on an active practical project the children involved gain an insight into what a potential career in engineering might involve as well as developing interpersonal relationships and gaining confidence.
After an initial introduction by Hugh Thomas (MFMC Director and Workshop Leader) which saw him demonstrate the basic engineering principles of pully systems and hydraulics, the children were divided into teams of 6 and tasked, along with a apprentice or staff member of Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd, with building a crane from a cardboard template using a system of water filled syringes and pipes to simulate the hydraulics.
Audience participation was the name of the game with children of both age groups and the Liebherr team demonstrating their public speaking skills and volunteering as guinea pigs for Hugh as he proved the principles of engineering.
During their lunch break the teams got the opportunity to visit the exhibition stands to see ‘real live’ cranes and find out whatever facts they could about them.